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The Lindleys in Papua New Guinea (PNG)

September 2019

Not-so 'Autumn-matic',
But That's Okay

As this is our first autumn/fall in Oregon since 2014, we're greatly anticipating the changing of the impending season(s). The recent 'season' has had its challenges with the unexpected passing of Todd's mom, Vicki, in May, transition to Oregon from PNG for a six-month stint and Andrew off to college.

The above purple petunia flower was found in Vicki's backyard porch area in July. It was a sign that even though the gardener in this area was no longer present (Vicki), the Grower of the Garden was--and continues to be--still very much active and alive in ways we often neither expect or understand...and that is okay. Smile. 

"
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations."
- Isaiah 61:11 (ESV)


Did you read that right?

I'll confess that when I (Todd) first casually read these words as I sat on a plane 30,000 feet in the air, I thought it stated something quite different.

It's true isn't, it? The world
is better with you out and about in it. You have value. You matter. You have worth and significance and meaning. You were created for a purpose. 

How many, I wonder, read it "The world is better without you in it"?

How sad to think someone might actually, in a moment of despondency, read or interpret these words that way. Many folks stated to me on social media after I posted this picture that they, too, in fact read it wrong the first time. It certainly isn't what it's actually saying or what this airline was intending to convey, but nevertheless, there it is.


Scary! Because words matter.

Context matters.

YOU matter!

If an airline beverage napkin can so easily miscommunicate to speakers of the very language it was written in and designed for (unintended as it may be), imagine how easy it is for someone to misunderstand Scripture because they're reading it in their second--or third--language/tongue of use?    
PRAYER & PRAISE POINTS:
  • Please pray for our family as we continue to transition well from PNG to Oregon for the following four months or so.
  • Continued prayer for Andrew as he enters his third week on campus at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, OR. 
  • Prayer for Alyssa as she juggles attending a public high school for the first time. 
  • Praise that Todd's mom's Celebration-of-Life service on June 28th went well. It was a treasured time to celebrate and grieve together this beautiful and deeply missed person in our lives. See remembrance video here
  • Big praise that Andrew is doing well thus far at college.  
  • Prayer that God would raise the necessary monthly funds so we can return to PNG by around mid-January, as He's always done before. 

If you've ever thought about joining our team - now is a great time (as we're around $1,000 per month short [our org helps to off-set this deficit while we're on furlough, but we need to be fully funded in order to be cleared to head back to PNG in January])!

We need both new monthly partners as well as some of our current team to possibly increase monthly support. Please prayerfully consider joining us as we continue to bring God's precious Word to every language and every life in PNG! 

For partnership: check out our Wycliffe ministry page!
The above picture and some subsequent pictures are from the Wycliffe Discovery Center at the Wycliffe USA headquarters in Orlando, FL. As we learned already from the airline napkin, knowing a language "intimately" is critical. 
Okay, now read the excerpt below from 'Da Jesus Book' (the Bible in Hawaiian Pidgin).  

You might understand and infer the meaning from our context here (talking about the Bible, language, etc.). It might even sound or read "funny" to you because it might seem or feel that you do or should recognize it...

...but what if you didn't recognize it or couldn't infer it? 

In your mother tongue language the above might sound or read a whole lot like this:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16 (NIV) 
The above/left photo was taken at the Museum of the Alphabet in Waxhaw, NC. Townsend also founded Wycliffe Bible Translators.

The photo on the bottom/right was taken in Orlando in a hallway at the Wycliffe USA headquarters. Here, Todd "highlighted" the Papua New Guinean flag. Smile. 
Top/Left: quick family picture in late July in Little Switzerland, NC. 
Top Right/Second: Andrew at college!
Bottom Left/Third: family picture at Todd's mom's service
Bottom Right/Fourth: Todd and his brother, Chris 
Just six weeks later, the petunias have thrived.  
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Copyright © 2019 Todd & Cathy Lindley, All rights reserved.


Our Email Address:
todd_lindley@wycliffe.org
 
Support:

To give by mail:

Send a check payable to ‘Wycliffe Bible Translators’ and a separate note stating “Preference for the Wycliffe ministry of Todd & Cathy Lindley 279488” and mail to:

Wycliffe Bible Translators
PO Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862

To give online:

https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Lindleys


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